Archives for March 2010

It calls for sending a high-level joint delegation (with shared costs) of Presbyterians, Jews, and Muslims to Israel-Palestine, “to identify opportunities for positive investment,” and to report back to the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in 2012.And it calls on the United States government “to repent of its sinful behavior throughout the Middle East, including its ongoing war in Iraq, its undermining of democratic processes in Iran and the Palestinian National Authority, its continuing support of non-democratic regimes, and its acquiescence to the ongoing Israeli Occupation.”Altogether, the study group voted during its meeting Jan.29-30 to approve 30 recommendations covering everything from refugees to nuclear arms proliferation.One of its members, Byron Shafer of New York City Presbytery, voted against the package of recommendations, saying, “I endorse most of the recommendations, but I have strong enough feelings about some that I cannot vote for the whole … [Read more...]

Two such words, “emergent” and “emergence” were discussed and explored through dialogue at Columbia Theological Seminary’s Emergence Now Conference January 26-28 — both by the 120 or so attending in Decatur, Ga., and those who participated virtually via Twitter.The conference’s four speakers included—Phyllis Tickle, Tony Jones, Philip Clayton, and Bruce Reyes-Chow—along with conference preacher Barbara Brown Taylor.The goal of the conference, according to Sarah Erickson, Columbia Seminary’s director of lifelong learning, was to continue the conversation begun in 2007 when Columbia hosted a conference on Emergent Church practices. Erickson noted that this year’s event drew folks from a variety of geographical (19 different states represented), denominational (mostly Presbyterian but also Lutherans, Episcopalians, Methodists, and even Roman Catholics), age, and “technological” perspectives.Phyllis Tickle was quick to point out the distinction between emergence Christianity and emergent … [Read more...]

reviewed by Louis WeeksRobert Wuthnow has done it again! The only scholar I know to take on so constructively so many crucial issues in American religion offers a first rate study of the relationship of American congregations and denominations to global Christianity and world affairs.Boundless Faith is perhaps Wuthnow’s most complex work to date, for the book’s argument draws upon disparate strains of recent scholarship by those who see the “next Christendom” in the Southern hemisphere, those who find a heuristic future in “emergent” and “missional” movements and churches, those who follow Pentecostalism and its spread, as well as those who study Catholics and mainline Protestants, religion and the public square, NGOs, American foreign policy, particular messianic-prophetic movements in various locales, and the myriad American evangelical preachers and ministries.The central argument of the book is that Christian denominations, faith-based NGOs, and especially congregations in the U.S. … [Read more...]

The committee develops policy statements, resolutions, and other reports on topics referred to it by previous GAs. It refined, but did not complete, papers on public education, HIV/AIDS, the theology of compensation in the church, gun violence, human rights, and a study on the nature and value of human life.Because ACSWP protocols bar quoting from documents until they are in final form, this story is based on committee conversations.HIV/AIDSThe report on HIV/AIDS is being written in response to two overtures to the 218th General Assembly (2008). According to Kezia Ellison, clinical research assistant at Harvard School of Public Health and the founder and president of Educating Teens about HIV/AIDS, Inc., who participated by phone, the new report “focuses on the dynamics of power and how they affect ... underlying issues or determinant issues, such as poverty, discrimination, stigmatization, human rights, and gender inequality” in many parts of the world.“HIV itself is not the problem, … [Read more...]

Restaurants, bars, or pubs attract 18 percent of Americans as a place to meet people, while churches draw 16 percent and online venues like Facebook pull 11 percent, said the survey released recently by Group Publishing, a nondenominational Protestant publishing house in Colorado.Group Publishing commissioned the survey in order to “determine where the church ranks as compared to other ‘around-town’ venues when measuring the places, people, and attributes that define ‘friendly’ to Americans today.”Why would people choose a restaurant or bar over church? Chris Howley, director of research of Group Publishing, said many people feel “compelled” to be in church. The social atmosphere of a pub or restaurant draws people in without the feeling of obligation, he said.The church may not be America’s favorite spot to meet new people, but it is one of the friendliest. Americans said church is the second-friendliest place in town, behind, unsurprisingly, home.While the results did not conclude … [Read more...]

Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, announced the proposal at a Vatican symposium with representatives of the Anglican, Lutheran, Methodist, and Reformed churches.Citing the need for an “ecumenism of basics that identifies, reinforces, and deepens the common foundation” of Christianity, Kasper said that the proposed catechism would be written “in consultation with our partners,” according to Catholic News Service.“We do not yet have any idea how such a catechism could be structured and written,” Kasper noted.The cardinal himself is unlikely to preside over such a project since he turns 77 next month, placing him two years past the normal retirement age for the heads of Vatican offices. As head of the council since 2001, the noted German theologian has led the Catholic church’s ecumenical dialogue with other Christian churches as well as with Jews.Kasper warned that ecumenism “is perhaps in danger of becoming a matter for … [Read more...]